For the 4th time, Freeport football tries for its 4th win

The Freeport football team has lost three straight games after starting the season with three straight wins. The past two losses, which came at home and by a combined three points, have been particularly hurtful for the Pretzels. Now with just three games remaining, the Pretzels have to find a way to turn their season around, and they’ll have to do it on the road tonight against vastly-improved Auburn (3-3).

By Adam J. Kradle

Journal Standard

By Adam J. Kradle

Posted Oct. 5, 2012 at 12:01 AM
Updated Oct 5, 2012 at 4:03 AM

By Adam J. Kradle

Posted Oct. 5, 2012 at 12:01 AM
Updated Oct 5, 2012 at 4:03 AM

Freeport, Ill.

The Freeport football team has lost three straight games after starting the season with three straight wins.

The past two losses, which came at home and by a combined three points, have been particularly hurtful for the Pretzels.

Now with just three games remaining, the Pretzels have to find a way to turn their season around, and they’ll have to do it on the road tonight against vastly-improved Auburn (3-3).

The Knights are competitive again for the first time in years under new coach Dan Appino, who led the Boylan to back-to-back state titles the past two seasons. Auburn has a chance to pick up its fourth win of the season tonight, which is something it hasn’t done since 1997.

Freeport coach Aaron Wichman expects his Pretzels to have another battle on their hands against a team that also has playoff aspirations.

“We figure Auburn is a quality opponent just like everybody else that we’ve played this year and so it’s not going to be surprising if it’s a close game again,” Wichman said. “We hope that we’ve learned some things, especially these last two weeks, that will help us if it is a close situation.”

Wichman said the Knights run a defense that could be a challenge for the Pretzels as they get accustomed to it, while Auburn’s offense will also likely keep Freeport on its toes.

“They run a defense very similar to what coach Appino ran at Boylan so it’s a 3-3 stack and sometimes if you’re not used to those defenses it can give you some problems so we tried to make sure that fundamentally we were sound going against their defense,” Wichman said.

“When we’re on defense they have a lot of good skilled kids and they do a very good job of spreading them out and trying to create some one-on-one matchups and so we have to make sure we can tackle in the open field.”

As the weeks pass and the losses mount, the chances to become playoff eligible become fewer and the Pretzels know they can’t afford to let a fourth chance to pick up win number four pass them by.

“It’s definitely a big game and from here on out they all will be,” Wichman said. “It’s cliché, but we’ll take it one game at a time and put all of our focus and energy into Auburn and hopefully the score is on our side this week.”